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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

So Many Learning Opportunities

"Google can bring you back 100000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one." - Neil GaimanI had one of those moments I'd been absolutely craving every since beginning this parenthood gig. We were tootling along in the car on the way to the library, when Maeve asks me, "Mom, what's inside a tree?" So right there in the car I try to explain dendrochronology, because I'm like that. But after my lengthy explanation, I told her, "Let's ask the librarian to help us find a book about what's inside of trees."Because although I dearly love trying to explain things to my kid, due to my teacherly nature, I also recognize that other people are able to give much better explanations than I can, with illustrations. That's what nonfiction children's book authors are for.And we found a very excellent book that compares all the parts of a tree to similar parts in humans, which made the book very relatable for a three year old, thanks to our excellent children's librarian. And, of course, we had to get our current statutory limit of two books about the digestive system. I keep telling her that two is plenty, because I don't really want to read aloud about the gastric juices, etc., every night of the week. I try to remind myself that I *do* love it that she's asking me so many questions, and that she's learned and learning so much. It's a great age, really, once the angry hitting and name calling slows down. Even though it's hard to explain why food disappears when someone swallows and you can't watch their tummies digest from the outside, even though you can in a book.